Serbia Rout Greece 15-5 to Reach Water Polo Semifinal

It took only 21 seconds for the pool in Taranto to reveal where this game was headed. Bogdan Gavrilovic scored from the center position on Serbia’s very first attack, and the national water polo team took off in a way few Mediterranean Games opponents manage to contain.

Dusan Trtovic made it 2-0 less than two minutes into the match with a precise shot from six meters, Vasilije Martinovic converted a penalty right after for a three-goal cushion, and the same player pushed the lead to 4-0 midway through the first quarter with a direct shot following a foul. When Gavrilovic added his second goal for 5-0 just 40 seconds later, barely four minutes had gone by and Greece had not even had time to catch its breath.

The Greeks did manage to steady themselves before the end of the opening quarter. Laskaridis scored on a man-up situation, and Spahic made it 5-2 with a minute and 27 seconds left, offering the only hint that the match might not turn into a complete rout. That hint did not last long.

Glusac’s Saves Shut Down Every Greek Attempt

Serbia kept the same rhythm after the short break. Nemanja Stanojevic scored from six meters a minute and 26 seconds into the second period for 6-2, Evangelos Puros pulled one back from the penalty spot for 6-3, but that was Greece’s only goal of the entire quarter. Goalkeeper Milan Glusac kept a calm and steady watch over his goal throughout, and near the end of the period Djordje Vucinic scored on a man advantage for 7-3. Martinovic’s third goal made it 8-3, despite a red card with replacement that Zoran Bozovic picked up in the closing stage of the period. Viktor Urosevic struck from six meters nine seconds before the halftime break to set the score at 9-3 at the interval.

The trend continued after the break. Serbia reached double digits just a minute and 12 seconds into the third quarter, Martinovic was clinical from the penalty spot for 10-3, and Vucinic converted a man-up chance a little over a minute later to give Serbia an eight-goal lead. The captain scored his fifth goal of the match less than four minutes into the third period for 12-3, while Greece’s only response in that stretch came a minute before the end, again through Puros, making it 12-4 after three quarters.

The net stayed still for almost six minutes in the final period, until Stanojevic set the score at 13-4 from six meters with two minutes and 13 seconds left. Puros found the net for his third goal of the match 22 seconds later, Urosevic extended the lead to 14-5 with a minute and 15 seconds remaining, and Marko Dimitrijevic closed out the scoring at 15-5 eleven seconds before the final buzzer.

Add it all up and the picture is clear: Serbia spread the scoring across the entire roster.

• Vasilije Martinovic, five goals
• Bogdan Gavrilovic, two goals
• Nemanja Stanojevic, two goals
• Djordje Vucinic, two goals
• Viktor Urosevic, two goals
• Dusan Trtovic, one goal
• Marko Dimitrijevic, one goal

Milan Glusac played the entire match in goal and made 11 saves, a number that speaks to the win just as loudly as the 15 goals scored. Coach Vladimir Vujasinovic’s squad answered the only rough patch of the tournament, a 14-13 loss to Montenegro in the previous round, in the best possible way.

Before this match we reported how Serbia came from behind to beat Croatia and that Greece would be next, so this win both closes that chapter and opens the next one. Serbia opened the Taranto tournament by demolishing Slovenia 32-1, then came the surprise stumble against Montenegro, and now the response everyone expected from the national team. After three rounds, the “Dolphins” have two wins and one loss and sit second in Group A, with Montenegro leading ahead of them on a perfect record.

Serbia now moves on to the semifinal on Wednesday, September 2, against the winner of the Italy-Spain matchup, with the exact time to be confirmed later. The Mediterranean Games in Taranto run through September 3, and after a performance like this against Greece, it is hard to picture Vujasinovic’s team entering the semifinal with any respect left for an opponent.